(Image courtesy of Lionsgate)It is not a secret that America has a shameful history in regards to race. That truth is so obvious that to belabor the point would warrant not only its own article or its own book, but entire libraries. Let's just say that in terms of arts and entertainment, it is very telling that last year's Oscar winner for best picture, Steve McQueen's gut-wrenching "12 Years a Slave," was referred to by many critics as being "timely."
Hollywood is no stranger to abject racism. From D.W. Griffith's technically astounding yet disgustingly confederate "Birth of a Nation" in 1915 to 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," featuring two jive-talking robots who have received a damning racially charged nickname not fit for print, one need not look too far for blatantly ignorant content in the mainstream. Except in the most extreme cases, nobody bats an eye.
Create a niche cable network targeted toward African-Americans and name it Black Entertainment Television, or BET for short, and suddenly everyone loses their minds over what surely must be an unacceptable injustice. Disregard that it can be easily argued that almost literally every other English-speaking network can be considered WET; protagonists on screen are almost always white and male. As far as every white aunt and uncle who egregiously share angry pseudo-political babble on Facebook is concerned, the only racists are the ones who acknowledge that race and racism are there.
Enter "Dear White People," an upcoming film to be released by Lionsgate on Oct. 17. The film was a smash hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won its writer/director Justin Simien the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent. The first critics to review the film have brandished it with a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, who are all in consensus that the film is a razor sharp satire depicting life as a black student in ivory-white academia.
As if the title does not make it abundantly clear, "Dear White People" is contentious. However, nobody who has seen the film has described it as being inflammatory.
"The film doesn't aim to condemn the fools who believe racism in America has ended, but rather open a vast discussion of how the subject of race — and merely identity — in our country has evolved," Slant Magazine's R. Kurt Osenlund in his four-star review raved.
Merely branding a film with the title "Dear White People" is asking, if not begging, for a multiracial conversation about the current state of race in America. If there is any issue to take with the film, it should come after witnessing its content. There should not be anything offensive about the simple demand for a conversation. Sadly, that expectation is optimistic. As the BET example foretells, a lot of people are up in arms about "Dear White People" based on its title alone, and they are not being silent about it.
The IMDB rating for "Dear White People" is at an astoundingly low 6.1/10 after 2,500 ratings, a number that is especially high for a film that has not yet received a commercial release. A quick glance at their message board makes it clear why. There are pages upon pages of angry posts crying out against the film for being heinously racist against white people from people who have not seen it.
"Ever notice how mixed-race people hate whites more than 100 percent black folks?" user amplive (for some reason) asks.
"Films this dumb are a lot of what's wrong about America," Jayhawk777 wrote. "It's a shame that the African-American community encourages such moronic endeavors."
"The politically leftist blacks are trying way too hard nowadays to sustain their victim-hood status," jackwolf, in a cringe-inducing tirade inspired merely by the title of a movie, sputters.
These quotes were all pulled from just the first page of the board; there are dozens more for the truly masochistic to dig through if they feel so inclined.
Lionsgate invites people of all races to see "Dear White People" in select theaters on Oct. 17. Judging from the enthusiastic response from those who have seen the film, black and white alike, it is a film with a message worth considering. Nobody is saying that it is necessary to agree with the film's thesis, though it appears many will.
For Pete's sake, do not get angry about a movie's title because the subject of race is uncomfortable. That is kind of the point.
The trailer for "Dear White People" can be viewed here.
You can contact the reporter at zheltzel@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @zachheltzel.
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